Fun Week

This past week was so much fun. Crazy, but fun! Alethea participated in summer celebration. at church. She had so much fun. There were many times that I was overwhelmed with gratefulnes, to the point of tears, that my kids have this opportunity. While Alethea was at church, Mikaela participated in a dance camp. It was so great. Mikaela and Alethea don't do much apart, so it was a good opportunity for her. A girl from our church had the idea to do this for the younger siblings who are not old enough to go to summer celebration yet.

At the end of this week, we went to a Nationals vs Orioles game with some of the youth and their families from the church. We were all decked out in our Orioles gear. The kids had lots of fun playing with friends, eating peanuts, and what else, eating blue cotton candy!!

Where was Sarah during all this? She was such a trooper. She was toted all around to the camps, throw in two therapy sessions and a check up at Hopkins, she was busy too. She ended her week with a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Nothing much has changed with her treatments. During her check up this week I learned that the plan is to have her off steroids by January. It will obviously be a very slow taper.

We are getting geared up for moving. The girls living in our townhouse are moving out this weekend, so we will begin getting the house ready for us to move in. We are looking forward to being back near friends and close to the church.

Chemo day

Today is another day of chemo for Sarah. God has been so faithful on all her treatment days to keep her from the worst kinds of reactions. We are grateful for that...but we don't want to grow complacent and become presumptuous of God's blessings either. The fact is, we are ALL completely and utterly dependent creatures, whether we "feel" it or not. We need God today, just like every other day.

Jessica, Jen's sister, went with Jen to Hopkins this morning. Yesterday, when Jen and I were out on a date, Jen mentioned many times how comforting it is to have someone else there with you during these long hours. Thanks Jess! Please pray for Jen and Jess today, as well as Sarah! Thanks.


On Tuesday night, Caleb and I got some "Man Time" together. The boy is at home all day with three sisters and a mom, and so he and I need to get out once and a while for some good man time. The other night, we went to an O's game with Caleb's buddies and their dads. We went with Tyler and Jordan Kauflin, and KJ and Isaac Hydoski. Jon and Carson Smith had to bail because of sickness. We had a blast together...building memories with our boys.



Naturally, when we stopped to buy tickets, the boys picked up rocks and started throwing them at the closest non-moving target, a lamp post.




Tyler decided he wanted to walk up the stairs all by himself. Typical guy.

As you can see, Isaac wasn't sharing his food with his son, KJ. All he gave him was water.

This was the ONE thing Caleb wanted...he was talking about getting blue cotton candy all day.

We talked about more things to do in the weeks and months ahead...so more man time posts will be coming. Next up: a man time camping trip!

Catching Up

I'll start with Sarah because I know that's of the most interest right now. Sarah saw her oncologist last week and after seeing her, he decided to wait another two weeks before trying to taper her steroids again. I think he would like to see a little more stability before we try again. She is doing well and we are enjoying seeing more of her personality coming out. She loves, loves, loves playing with her brother and sisters, but I think her favorite is wrestling with Daddy. I love hearing her belly laugh when he gives her "the claw". If you would pray for us this week. This is a treatment week and we will be spending two days at Hopkins.

Caleb got a scooter recently. I know I'm a little biased, but I think he's the cutest boy ever!!!



The girls took a dance class this spring through the rec department, thanks to my mom and dad. As you can see they had a very small class! It was a good intro into doing things outside the church.



Thanks to my mom again, we were able to go on the last field trip of the year to Claude Moore Colonial Farm. The kids had a great time carding wool, candle dipping, playing games, pounding corn, and being with their friends. It was really wet and muddy outside so their favorite part was getting to wear their rain boots.




One more fun little thing. We have a little nature preserve at our house. A few weeks ago we found some duck eggs under a spruce tree in our front yard, and the next week my neighbor came and told us we had a baby fawn up the hill in our back yard. I was able to go up and get some pictures before the mom came back for her baby. The kids have really enjoyed all the animals that our yard attracts.


Our last bit of big news is that we will be moving back to our townhouse in Gaithersburg sometime this summer. We decided that with everything going on with Sarah it would be best to be closer to our friends, and to put Alethea and Mikaela at Covenant Life School. They will be in first grade and kindergarden, and they are both VERY excited!! It was definitely a hard decision, but we are in faith for this big change. With all the time I spend with Sarah between Hopkins visits and therapists, we thought it would be pretty hard to homeschool both girls.

MRI results

Yesterday we spent the day at Hopkins. Sarah is scheduled for MRI’s every 3 months for the next 2 years...and yesterday was the first round of MRI’s since her surgery. They were looking to see if the tumor is growing back, and they were looking at another area that they were suspicious about. We spent the day there, and for the most part, Sarah did well. She didn’t get nauseous (like she has in the past) but took a while to come out of sedation The pictures show her sleeping in bed right after the MRI (still under sedation) and then transitioning to sleeping on mom! Before long she was actively eating crackers and downing apple juice!

We got the preliminary reports from the MRI today. The doctor emailed us the following report:

“I am not sure if anyone else got in touch with you, but the preliminary result from Sarah's MRI is good: there are some "post-surgical changes" in the area where the tumor was, but nothing that looks like recurrence. The rest of the chest looks clear. I should emphasize that this is the preliminary read -- the report indicates the MRI has not yet been fully reviewed by the senior radiologist. That much being said, the result is very encouraging.”

We asked what “post surgical changes” means and he said
“Post-surgical changes = scar tissue and surgical "clips" where they stapled back together layers of muscle or tendon sheath. These are generally expected findings after surgery.”

We are very happy with this news and are receiving this as the incredible kindness of God! Thank you for praying for us yesterday.

On Monday, we went with our care group to pick some strawberries, and then went back to the Sheffer's house to make some strawberry pancakes. It was a great time together!






We tried to keep Sarah out of the strawberries, but as you can see in the two pictures below, we were unsuccessful. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Sarah has Brian Chesemore wrapped around her finger. He carried her around the strawberry patch and fed her strawberries whenever she wanted more!

As for an update on Sarah's treatment...

After increasing her steroid dosage, we began seeing some good results from Sarah. She is trying to walk more and more, though she still is pretty shaky.

We are headed back to Hopkins tomorrow morning for a follow up MRI. The MRI is scheduled for 8am. After her surgery in February, the doctor told us that she will need an MRI every 3 months for the next 2 years, just to confirm that the tumor is not growing back. Tomorrow's MRI is the first since the surgery. Please pray that the MRI comes back negative and that they find nothing abnormal.

Thanks for your continued prayers on our little girl's behalf!